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In This Issue

Upcoming Events

Birthdays

January

4    Suong Pham

4    Catherine Burgess

7    Jim Clark

 8    MeiLi Haan

 9    Debbie Mills

 9    Tinh Huynh

10   Jocelyne Miller

12    Loc Mai

15    Kevin Tingley

15    Hue Vo

19    Helen Nicholson

22    Jay Parrotta

25   Anne Hiller

25    Anita Nicholson

28    Tyler Mills

30    Robin Tingley

   

February

1    Pauline Thomas

5    Delaney Curtis

5     Nathaniel Johnson

15    Debbie Los

17    Douglas Payne

23    Frank Parrotta

26    Cheryl Thomas

27    Hong Pham

27    Liz Nguyen

 

 

 

Our Prayer List

Saint Patrick's Ministers 

The Vision of St. Patrick's

Previous Issues of the Epistle

St. Patrick's Organized for Missions and Ministry 

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February 5, 2015
Photos
Altar Flowers arranged by Nhung Dang

Victoria Kennedy presenting the Harriet "Happy" Pulman award to Liz Nguyen


Liz with her award

Parish Notes

Supply Clergy for Feb. 8th

The Reverend Dr. Theodore (Ted) Johnson assisted by Bernie Schroeder as a Deacon.

 

TET Celebration

St. Patrick's will be celebrating Tet again this year with a potluck lunch and talent show. If you would like to participate in the show please contact Mariko Hiller.

 

Pastoral Search Prayer

Our Heavenly Father: 

Your love for us is unfailing.  You have blessed this church -- a caring community where all are welcome and each is valued.   Renew our faith during this time of transition.  
 
Be with our pastoral search committee.  Give them unity of purpose, and help them listen carefully to your voice.  Let us be mindful that you are calling the right person to shepherd your flock at St. Patrick's. 
 
All this we ask in the name of your Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen
 

 

The Propers
Sunday, February 8, 2015

Fifth Sunday After the Epiphany

 

Texts: 

First Reading: Isaiah 40:21-31
 
Psalm 147:1-12, 21c
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 9:16-23 
 

Mark 1:29-39 

 

Collect: 

Set us free, O God, from the bondage of our sins, and give us the liberty of that abundant life which you have made known to us in your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. 


 

Last Sunday's Sermon
Given by The Reverend Dr. Anne Gavin Ritchie
February 1, 2015

 

FIGHTING  EVIL

            Whenever I hear a biblical story about exorcism, I can't help thinking about my mother.  I know demonic possession is not the same thing as paranoid schizophrenia, but growing up it was hard to see the difference.

            My mother surrendered me to foster care at the age of five months.  When I turned one, her mother, my maternal grandmother, brought me to her home.  She thought, bless her heart, that this was a temporary solution, until my mother "got back on her feet."   My mother re-joined the household when I was five years old, and began her inexorable downward slide. 

            My grandparents tried to get her care.  She was institutionalized at least twice; always coming home much better.  Then always resuming that downward slide.  She wouldn't take her prescribed medications, and my grandparents could not or would not force her.

            No, my mother did not have supernatural strength, nor could she speak rationally, as classic biblical demons do.  But she frightened me.  I always felt her as a threat to our well-being as a family, possibly even to our survival. She seemed to me like a coiled spring, ready to strike.

            When my grandfather suddenly died of a heart attack, I stayed home for college, which had not been my plan.  My mother grew steadily worse, and I was tired from being awakened in the middle of the night with her curses and screaming.

            At that point I took authority, whether I should have or not, and gave my grandmother an ultimatum:  "get her out of this house or I'll go live in the dorm."  I could not continue to live constantly subjected to her insanity.

            Grandma, with my aunt's help, got her committed once again, though she was soon released.  My grandmother financed her living in rental apartments until her death of an apparent adrenalin overdose --  she was an extreme asthmatic  -- at the age of 53.

            I was young then and fighting to have a life:  I wanted to finish college, to have boyfriends, to make a decent life for myself.  But I can't help wondering:  what would I do now?

            I think it would be more like Jesus' response, not to distance the sufferer but to challenge the "demons."  I would advocate for more treatment and ongoing medication.  I would try to see, as Jesus did with the man with an "unclean spirit,"  my mother's underlying humanity.

            Mark tells today's story as Jesus' first public act.  At this point, Jesus has been baptized by John, emerged from temptation by Satan, and called his first disciples.  Now he is preaching in his adopted home town, Capernaum, and encounters a man with "an unclean spirit." 

            It's fascinating that this unclean spirit or demon recognizes Jesus and the role he is destined to play, saying:  "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?  Have you come to destroy us?  I know who you are, the Holy One of God."

            Jesus, not eager to be pigeon-holed as a wonder-worker responds:   "Be silent, and come out of him!"

            The force of Jesus' holiness outweighs the evil.  The man is restored to health and wholeness, and everyone in the synagogue is amazed.

           Mark introduces this first public act as a sign of Jesus' authority.  He doesn't just talk about making things better...  Jesus makes things better.  He makes things happen, not to build a reputation --  remember, he swears his followers to silence -  Jesus makes real-world things better for the sick, the poor, the sinner, the outcast, anyone who needs help.   In Mark's next chapter Jesus will say:

            "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I have come not to call the righteous, but sinners."

            Do we do the same?  Do we look for the humanity beneath the illness or the sins?

            How do we treat people with mental illness?  Do we distance them, hide them away - as I did with my mother --  or do we provide for them and interact with them?

            Recently I've been meeting with a couple of mentally-disadvantaged people who want to make a lifelong commitment to each other.  It's amazing how absolutely honest they are about their issues... and how absolutely committed to each other in their love.  They are an inspiration to me.           Talking with them and encouraging them, maybe I'm redeeming some of my past behavior toward my mother.

            There are other evils in the world, staring us in the face:  racism;  income inequality;

education inequality.   All of us are faced with the decision whether to simply talk about them (like the Pharisees and Scribes)  or to actually DO something about them  (like Jesus).

            Becoming activists -- which means doing things --  involves risk.  I'll upset the status quo.  Friends may not understand.  They may "unfriend" me.  But doing nothing means allowing those evil, life-threatening, life-denying forces their full destructive power.

            Healing that demon-possessed man in the synagogue wasn't the end of the story.  Not only was Jesus claiming his authority...  he was claiming the authority for all of us to fight evil wherever and however we find it.

            Jesus' encounter with the demon reflects the reality that we live, on this earth, in a contested space.  There are negative powers that want to take away the good we do.  We must never, ever, surrender to them.

            Instead, like Jesus, who has given us authority, we must first say "Be silent!"  And then invest our energy, time and money to fight anything that threatens the humanity or the well-being of any of God's children, in our neighborhoods and around the world.

            I know now that my mother was not evil.  She was sick.  She needed help that science at that time and her family could not give. 

            I also know that evil exists, inciting people to commit acts of hidden cruelty and sometimes brazen cruelty.   Evil sometimes invites us simply to look the other way. 

            There are "demons" roaming the world.  They sometimes appear in our workplaces and even in our own homes.  But we have God-given authority to fight them, to expel them and make this world more like God created it to be.

            May you and I have the courage and strength to do so.

 

May God bless and keep you, and may God grant us peace.  

Please pray for Saint Patrick's throughout the process of transition 

 

Saint Patrick's Episcopal Church

Falls Church, Virginia